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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

This is it! One more week, inspired by the flash prompt: I think you're up to something, and I want to know what it is. Enjoy!!

Fortitude Part 53

“Wildman was here last night. It’s
soup without bread for lunch until we can get some more, but he left a gift.”
The basket where we usually kept the bread was filled with bits and pieces,
metal and gears, cogs and wires.

“He always finds the best stuff.”
I rifled through the mess.

“You know, you’re a much better inventor
than your father ever was.”

“What he did didn’t interest me.”
I shrugged. “This is different. Everything out here is different.” Living at
the edge of an ancient city among a lot of other Betas and Gammas was different
from the life we’d had before. Modern conveniences were a thing of the past,
but I enjoyed coming up with new ways to bring little comforts back into our
lives.

“He’s been coming by a lot lately.”

“I guess so.” I shrugged, trying
to look nonchalant. “He’s good at scavenging. Besides, this way I feel better
about him getting a good meal regularly.”

Teddy narrowed his eyes. “I think
you’re up to something, and I want to know what it is.”

“Would I be up to something?” I widened
my eyes and smiled.

“Absolutely.”

I put a hand on my chest and
staggered backward. “I’m wounded.”

“You’re late for work, is what you
are, and you’re going to make me late. Put your shoes on.”

“What would I do without you to
keep me on track?” It was amazing the difference in Teddy, when no one looked
down on him for his fugues. Whenever I got blocked, he figured out how to fix
my problem. We worked better together.

“Be late, anger everyone, and generally
make a nuisance out of yourself.”

Our little enclave was secure, but
there was a lot of friction between the Betas. Some of them had lost their
ability to the king’s machine. Some had gained some measure of power back.
Teddy and I had gained more than most, and there was a link between us that
hadn’t been tangible before.

We’d yet to explore everything
that it could mean, but I had a feeling, one day, it was going to be very important.
In the meantime, I was just happy to be with him.

“Before we head off to work, there’s
something I wanted to show you.” I laced up my shoes and grabbed my jacket. I
reached for Teddy, pulling him in close. “You know, we’ve been together for a
year today.”

His eyes opened wide. “We have?”

“Mmhmm. The day we started out life
over.”

Teddy wrapped his arms around my
back, fisting his hands in my jacket. “Do you ever wish things were different?
That we didn’t have to leave the city?”

“If we’d stayed there, our parents
would’ve fought to keep us apart if we didn’t hide being together. Here,
everyone’s busy just trying to live so nobody cares what’s going on in our
private lives. Sure, it might be hard, but I’d rather be here any day.”

“Good. I like it here too.” Teddy kissed
me. I leaned into him, deepening the kiss. He was flushed and breathing hard
when I pulled away. I loved that look on him. Teddy blinked slowly, finally
focusing back on me. “I can never get enough of that.”

I cupped his cheeks. “There’s
always more.”

Teddy was gasping by the time I
let him up for a breath. “You… said you had… something to show me?”

The door to the kitchen was shut,
so he wouldn’t smell what I’d been doing while he was getting ready to head to
the city center. As soon as he opened the door, Teddy’s eyes slid half-shut,
and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Mmm.”

A pot sat in the middle of the
table with two mugs. Steam rose from the spout. “Is that… chocolate?” he asked
reverently.

“It is.”

He looked at me with wide eyes. “How?”

“Wildman,” I said simply. “I
considered about giving you something like a ring, but everyone knows you’re
mine. Instead, I thought about what makes you happy—besides me—and I instantly
thought of how much you enjoy a cup of chocolate in the morning.”

“It’s amazing. Wonderful. But”—he
looked undecided—“we have to get to work.”

“The harvester can wait an extra
day. So instead of putting on my shoes, you’re going to take yours off. We’re
going to drink hot chocolate and then… we’re going back to bed.”

“That sounds perfect. I love you,
Will.”

“Love you too, Teddy.”

THE END

Yep, that's it! Next week will be the start of something new, after just over a year. Woo hoo! Now go enjoy some more flash.

Friday, October 23, 2015

Please help me congratulate Phetra Novak on her first eBook release, Haven's Revenge. I got to ask her a few questions (including her take on chocolate *gasps*) and learn more about what she has in the pipeline. There's also a contest where you just have to leave a blog comment to be entered to win, so make sure you don't forget to do that!

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INTERVIEW

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Vanilla. Always vanilla… Dare I say I am not a huge
chocolate fan.

What do you like to do when you’re
not writing?

Read? My family is a huge part of my life obviously. Also I
have a 9 year old boy with ADHD/ASD, so I spend a lot of time with him when he
does his hobbies like football (or what Americans call soccer.)

What’s the best part of being an
author for you?

I love the written word. I love telling stories honestly it
may sound like the oldest cliché in the book, but to share
stories with others that they can read and escape the world for a bit.

Are you new to publishing
completely, or just the MM genre under your name/a pen name?

I am a rookie, like the greenest rookie you could find. And
my author name is partly my own partly made up. Phetra actually is my given
name and Novak is just a name I chose as my pen name. Why? Because my real name
is not very international.

What prompted you to self-publish
Haven’s Revenge?

There were many reasons, one being Haven’s Revenge has a lot
of firsts for me—first story I actually wrote. First character who entered my
mind and yelled at me screaming to get out and wouldn’t go away until I wrote
his story down. He developed over time, over a long time, before actually
writing his story down. And then I found Meg Amor, my editor for this book, and
we clicked. She helped me make Haven become this diamond in the rough to this
brilliant shaped stone that he is today. With that done I just wanted to do it
on “my own” all the way just to prove to myself that I could do it.

Did you have a specific inspiration
for this story or did the idea come through plotting and hard work?

The idea of making Haven into a Native American were hunter
a la modern time was my first idea, making the Fenrir wolf the father of all
wolves my second idea. After that it was a lot of plotting and hard work
creating the world and the background story that today is the red thread in the
Caddo Norse Novels.

Do you have a favorite character in
the story or one you most identify with? Why or why not?

Oh my, a favorite character. Well I really like many of them;
Eddie is sort of cool, calm and collected tea drinking cowboy. But I guess in
reality, Haven is my boy. I identify a lot with him; I put a lot of myself in
him, and he and I are pretty equally grumpy. I mutter and speak to myself a
lot, just like Haven does and curse like a drunken sailor. *winks*

What’s next in your series? Do you
plan to continue the story with the same main characters or introduce a new
couple?

Next in my series is to continue with the red thread in the
story—the war between the Asa Gods and the Fenrir wolf. What will happen next
there: Haven and Alexander, of course, will be there for obvious reasons (that
will show when you read the book). But the main characters in the next book
will be Reid and Sean. The title of that book is simply Saving Sean, and I am
hoping to have that one out sometime next year, 2016, around this time.

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Phetra H Novak’s newest book titled HAVEN’S REVENGE is OUT today.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Series: A Caddo Norse Novel #1

Cover Artist: Shayla Mist

Length: 305 Pages

Blurb: Haven Naranjo is a proud Caddo Indian, with a frightening
past. He was a mere fifteen year old boy when he found his parents, part of his
tribe, and his high school sweetheart slaughtered by a wereman gone mad.
Falling victim to a system that is not always prepared to deal with a shattered
young mind, Haven finally gives up on himself. He grows up to be bitter and
hateful toward the creatures he hate. Werewolves.

Alexander
Prescott is the younger of the two Prescott boys and comes from a large
werewolf clan. But things are bigger than that. Alexander, is the true vessel
of the Fenrir Ulv and is to become the leader of all supernatural beings, the
King of Wolves. On top of that, he’s in love with Haven. He’s known since he
hit puberty that Haven is his true mate. But there’s one problem, Haven hates
what he can become. However, Alexander has a plan on how he is to charm his,
and his wolf’s way into the grumpy Caddo Indian man’s heart.

But
fate has other plans for them. The Asa Guard enters their calm country living,
determined to use their own kind against them and kill the true
vessel—Alexander Prescott.

When
war between the Asa Gods and the Fenrir Ulv starts knocking on their door, what
side will the damaged Haven choose? Will he find a way of trusting those,
especially Alexander, who he feels has betrayed him and let his animal, the
eagle, lead him straight to his fate by his mate’s side? Or will he trust the
words of strangers, who come to make his quest of seeing all shifters dead a
reality?

Haven’s
Revenge is a story of an emotional journey for a whole community. It’s about
finding acceptance not just from others but in yourself.

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EXCERPT

Haven
leaned back on his heels, quickly wiping his cum covered hand off on the grass
before getting up, mumbling under his breath as he gave Alexander a quick
glance. "What the fuck was I thinking?"

He
stumbled toward camp, braiding his hair back with determination.

At
first Alexander was taken aback, almost shocked by his abrupt, cold dismissal
but it only lasted for a few short seconds before he got his bearings again.
His new found confidence and possessive streak took over. Like the swift
“animal” he actually was, he stood, crossing Haven's path in no time. When
their eyes met, sparks flew. There was nothing submissive at all with the look
that sparked in Alexander's eyes.

"No.
You're mine, Haven. Mine. I’ve waited for you for years and I’m done. Get used
to it because you belong to me now." His voice was calm but there was no
misunderstanding the words that were spoken. He gripped Haven's jaw in one firm
grip. With a great force, that shouldn't have been possible, he claimed Haven's
lips with his own, forcing his tongue into his mouth as he gasped at the heated
intrusion. Dominating Haven and the kiss completely Haven couldn't help but to
give himself permission to melt into the hungry kiss. Just for a few seconds.
When Alexander finally broke off the kiss, they were both breathing hard lips
still only inches apart as they tried to stare each other out. Haven was the
one who looked away first.

Alexander
gave him a calm, almost arrogant smirk before turning his attention to getting
himself dressed, rather than standing around with his jeans halfway down his
thighs.

"In
your dreams," Haven muttered, shaking his head. He was pissed at himself
for letting his emotions get the better of him. See what losing control did? It
fucked everything up, and what the hell was wrong with Alexander? That kid
needed a new hobby, one that didn't involve him. But Haven feared that
Alexander had made up his mind and wasn't letting go.

"Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck."

He
was so screwed.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phetra often refers to herself as
the odd man out, the dorky book nerd who rather spend her time with a good book
or making up fantastic stories with even more fantastic characters, than live
in the real world dealing with real people.

The real world is strange in a
very non humorous way and people in it complicate it to the point of wearing
you out. In the world of the written word no matter if it is in someone else's
words or that of her own things might get busy, complicated, and sometime even
plain painful but somewhere along the line there is always a hero on the
horizon. He might not be prime or proper, a church going pretty boy since the
author prefer rebellious men and women who don't follow the protocols of
society.

One of her favorite saying are
that only dead fish follow the stream and well she ain't no dead fish.

Phetra live together with her
family, two children, a domestic partner and their two cats in Gothenburg,
Sweden and when reading her books you will notice that she always finds a way
of bringing her on culture into her books.

The joy of writing and reading
comes from her childhood and is something she has always loved, something she
is passionate to share with others. Phetra loves hearing from her readers even
with ideas of what they want to come next.

If you are looking for her the
best place to start looking for her is at home in the quietest corner of the
house where you'll find her either curled up with her Kindle or her laptop
typing away.